Plot: In the Forgotten Realms there was once a nation
of powerful wizards called Netheril. So great was Netherese magic that
they lived in massive cities that would float through the air. Unchecked
ambition destroyed their civilization and sent their cities crashing
into the ground. Generations later the ruined cities are still filled
with powerful magics and fell beasts. Undrentide is one of these cities.

The
campaign starts in the Silver Marches, a cold frontier not terribly
far from the city of Neverwinter. The hero is drawn into what seems
to be a straightforward quest, but eventually discovers that they’ve
stumbled into something much larger. Investigation takes our hero into
the barren wastes of the Anauroch desert. The Anauroch was a green and
verdant land that was long ago home to a race of powerful wizards called
the Netheril. A disaster destroyed the Netherese civilization, and turned
their land to a desert waste. The ruins of the civilization lie hidden
beneath the sand, protected by one of the most hostile environments
in the Forgotten Realms.

The
story starts in a frontier town called Hilltop in the icy wilderness
of the Silver Marches. The player begins the game as the student of
a retired adventurer as the end of her apprenticeship approaches. A
surprise attack by raiders and some stolen artefacts draw the player
into an epic plot that puts the fate of Hilltop and the Silver Marches
into her inexperienced hands. As the true extent of the danger is discovered,
our hero will find it necessary to journey into the forbidding Anauroch
desert in search of an ancient magic.

Number of Chapters/Hours: 3 chapters with 20+ hours
of gameplay

Toolset Improvements: New Wizards

New Henchmen: "We’ll also be adding a new
selection of potential henchmen to assist our hero. We’re working
hard to make these characters even more engaging than in the original
campaign. Not all the henchmen will be available from the beginning,
for example, some are tied to locations later in the game, and will
be able to help players more with advice about their particular location."

One
of the significant new additions is the henchmen interface which will
be upgraded by allowing the player to access their henchmen’s
inventories. There will be a number of tweaks and improvements made
to the entire game, including adding scripting commands, tuning basic
AI routines, and including the ability for a player to create new items.

Plot: Hordes of the Underdark pits players in a battle
to save the embattled city of Waterdeep from an ancient evil buried
deep within Undermountain. Waterdeep is under assault by an unorthodox
crew of creatures from the Underdark. The army is led by a mysterious
and charismatic drow outcast that was somehow able to foster cooperation
between the dark elves, duergar, illithids (mind flayers), and beholders.
Using the unique abilities of each race, this motley force is on the
cusp of crushing Waterdeep. It's up to you to discover the secrets of
this unusual coalition and destroy it before Waterdeep falls.

Apparently
Lloth, the spider goddess worshipped by the drow, has disappeared. Since
many drow priestesses draw power and strength from Lloth, the disappearance
has caused a power struggle. One drow rebel is able to command an unusual
amount of power, and uses it to create an army of drow, mind flayers,
and duergar.

Number of Chapters/Hours: 20+ hours of gameplay

SoU
Compatibility: Shadows of Undrentide is not necessary for people
to play Hordes of the Underdark. The two expansions are independent
from each other, but epic features for the prestige classes that appeared
in Shadows will be included in Hordes, so those that own both expansion
packs get an extra boost in features.

Number of Henchmen: You can now take along two henchmen.
One of the major complaints of Shadows of Undrentide was a lack of diverse
henchmen. Of the three companions you could choose from, none were an
ideal complement for physically weaker classes like mages and rogues.
BioWare is addressing this problem and promises more henchmen, with
more diverse classes, this time around. Best of all, there will be romance
scripts to make henchmen interaction more interesting.

Several
of the companions from the original NWN (Daelan, Linu, Tomi, Sharwyn)
and one from SoU (Deekin) will return to assist you. Details:

Main
Features: Campaign designed for high-level characters (level
15+) and set amidst the famous city of Waterdeep from the Forgotten
Realms campaign setting. Underdark will introduce Epic Level gameplay.
Epic Levels (based on the rules published by Wizards of the Coast in
the Epic Level Handbook) will be available for characters that have
reached level 20 and allow them to advance as far as level 40. Also;
cool new spells, some significant improvements to the henchmen system,
as well as a bunch of new prestige classes, plus tons of new skills
and feats. It will also contain a multitude of new weapons and spells
designed solely for Epic Level characters.

There
will also be 6 new voice sets and 20 new character portraits. Composer
Jeremy Soule will contribute 17 tracks.

The
game's character generator can start you off with a buff level 15 character,
but you can also import a character from the original Neverwinter Nights
or Shadows of Undrentide.

The
expansion will allow for increased polygon counts and improved textures,
which will result in more-detailed characters and environments, as well
as an improved camera that can zoom in very closely onto the action
onscreen. Also included will be skyboxes, which will finally enable
skies in the game.

New
Magic Items:"There are quite a few new magic items
we are integrating into Hordes of the Underdark. We’re upgrading
all the current weapons and items to have attack bonuses ranging from
+5 to +20, and adding a Djinni Bottle which contains a store so the
player can buy and sell items as long as he has the bottle and gives
it a rub once in a while. We are also adding an intelligent weapon the
player can find. This black blade gives the player great attack bonuses,
and it has a terrifically sour disposition. I guess I would too after
being stuck in the hands of a skeleton for centuries."

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